real estate:

In tough housing market, NLV hit hardest

By Brian Wargo (contact), In Business reporter

Fri, Mar 27, 2009 (2 a.m.)

Real Estate in Crisis

Government help can’t come too soon for 89131 families (3-26-2009)
Housing help for Nevadans in budget bill (3-25-2009)
Report: Las Vegas home values fall 28 percent in year (3-24-2009)
Residents of bankrupt Lake Las Vegas face uncertainty (3-23-2009)
Reid: Obama housing plan not enough (3-23-2009)
Whether to walk away: Housing’s moral minefield (3-22-2009)
New-home sales remain icy (3-20-2009)
Professionals pessimistic about speedy economic recovery (3-20-2009)
LV reclaims top foreclosure ranking in U.S. (3-20-2009)

Twenty-seven of 57 ZIP codes in the Las Vegas Valley recorded drops in median prices of 30 percent or more in 2008 compared to 2007, according a report by a San Diego tracking firm.

DataQuick Information Systems reported that the median price in Southern Nevada fell 31.3 percent between the fourth quarter of 2007 and fourth quarter of 2008 and more striking the price per square foot fell for under $100 to $98 per square foot. The firm tracks the sales of existing and new homes and condos.

Five of seven ZIP codes in North Las Vegas recorded price drops of 30 percent or more. The biggest decline was in 89030, which includes older areas of the city around downtown, where the median price of $50,000 was 73 percent lower than the end of 2007, the firm reported. That’s a median per square foot price of $45.

Prices in 89032, which is near the North Las Vegas Airport, fell 42 percent to $145,500 or $85 per square foot.

Henderson fared the best of the region with none of its eight ZIP codes reporting price declines of more than 30 percent. One of the bigger drops, however, was 89011, an area that includes Lake Las Vegas, where the median price fell 28 percent to $222,131.

Las Vegas and unincorporated Clark County had 18 ZIP codes record price drops of 40 percent or more. The biggest price drop was 89145 (east of Angel Park Golf Club), which fell 88 percent to $140,000. That was followed by 89101, an area surrounding downtown Las Vegas, which fell 72 percent to $68,125.

In Boulder City, the median price fell 23 percent to $220,000 or $154 per square foot.

DataQuick reported that the median price paid for Las Vegas homes in January fell to $159,000, the lowest since the spring of 2002. It reported that foreclosures accounted for 73 percent of the resale market.

January marked the 10th consecutive month in which sales of existing homes rose on a year-over-year basis, said DataQuick spokesman Andrew LePage. Total home sales, which have suffered from the decline in new-home construction, climbed above the year-ago market for the fifth consecutive month, but were the lowest for a January since 2000, LePage said.

The 249 new homes sold, which includes detached and condos, marked the lowest amount since the firm began tracking Las Vegas in 1994.

By its calculations, the median price of all homes sold in January fell to $159,000, a 9.1 percent decline from December, the firm reports.

The overall median sales price has fallen on a year-over-year basis for 21 consecutive months and is 49 percent from the peak of $312,000 in November 2006, LePage said. The firm has yet to report February numbers.

The median price paid per square foot in January for existing homes fell to $90 in January, down nearly 34 percent from January 2008 and nearly 53 percent from the $190 peak in June 2006, LePage said.

LePage said the median price of homes sold is being skewed in part by the credit crunch that makes it harder to obtain jumbo mortgages. The drop off in high-end sales lowers the median price.

For a breakdown by ZIP code of the median prices for Las Vegas area homes sold during the fourth quarter, go to www.dqnews.com.

Discussion: 5 comments so far…

By dbltrbl

3/27/09 at 2:46 a.m.

Suggest removal

Everyone is playing the "numbers game" but that doesn't account for the scores of people who rightly invested in a residence; not on speculation for profit, but for habitation, and who now face the loss of value on that investment. A recent story about appeals for re-evaluation of property taxes, some of which have been denied, are infuriating. Being 'underwater' on probably the largest personal investment puts everyone's financial situation in question.
It has been reported that there is no possibility of real estate 'recovering' to the level of the top of the bubble when many of the homes were purchased. So occupant-owners face the loss of up to hundreds of thousands of dollars that were based on a false valuation should they decide to sell. The local market is a poster-child for this.
Responsible homeowners who are current on their mortgages, even over-valued that they are, are the ones who are really getting the shaft if they cannot get the cost of those mortgages back into the realm of reality.
By Guy_Burgess03

3/27/09 at 6:03 a.m.

Suggest removal

I have been through this sort of thing before in a different area. If your income is secure, one strategy is to simply ride it out, before you know it property values will be back to reasonable levels. Simple don't panic.
By gilrus47

3/27/09 at 7:16 a.m.

Suggest removal

I do feel sad for the legitimate homeowner who got caught at the wrong time. They might have to think of their higher payments are a premium for living in a place which was so attractive to the real estate speculator. Hopefully these investers got burned in the stock slide and now have a more cautious outlook.
By sunset32

3/27/09 at 7:32 a.m.

Suggest removal

The attorney general of the state of Nevada should investigate taking up a class action lawsuit on behalf of the citizens of Southern Nevada against the BLM for gross negligence in release of the Kyle Canyon land. The residents of the State of Nevada are dependent on the BLM to act prudently in the release of residential land for development. Although this lawsuit will go nowhere as local leaders were goading the BLM along, it will cause the BLM to pause the next time there is a real estate bubble in the valley. The BLM got drunk and released thousands of acres of land onto the market and we, the citizens and homeowners, are suffering from the affects of their hangover. The value desctruction of the market declines far outweigh the proceeds from the BLM auctions over the last decade.

The BLM has one chance to get the release of lands right. They had enough evidence at the time of the last auction to realize the Las Vegas Valley would suffer from too much supply in the event that new home construction slowed to even a more moderate rate. The BLM should be greedy, they just need to be long term greedy.

AG, at least commission a study to understand the impacts of the release of these lands have on the long term recovery efforts.
By maybevegas

3/27/09 at 8:35 a.m.

Suggest removal

Sunset32;
Everyone wanted the BLM's head on the block in 2005-06 for not releasing the land fast enough. It is not the BLM's fault that Kyle Canyon went into Bankruptcy and the fact that it did meant nothing to an already collapsed housing market. Someone paid for the BLM land which then helped schools, parks, etc. in Nevada, so you could argue for the business savvy of the BLM.
As for the idea of a study to understand the impacts, do you really want to throw more money after bad? The vast majority of people got caught up in the American dream of living beyond their means and everyone has to pay their fair share. You don't need a study to tell you that. Besides, a study to blame the BLM wouldn't result in someone being fired as that never happens in Southern Nevada.
As for the tax argument, the taxes are not what is causing this mess and they are also not making the difference in people being able to afford/not afford their homes.